striper

If you can get the price down another 10% (parts money) I'd buy it, knowing you're getting into a project car. If you are capable of doing some complex repairs you'll have the satisfaction of bringing this car back to life and extending its life. Everyone seems to make an issue of the trans, but I changed my clutch at home on jackstands. Not many do that, but with a good set of tools it's doable. If you've got the time you can make it a nice car and experience Corvette ownership. It can change your life for the better. And anything you have trouble with, you'll find the answer right here. My own car has 142k miles on it, completely serviced by myself. I think I know everything about my car there is to know. Good Luck!

IMXCITD

with the repairs that you already know need to be completed and the possibility of more unknowns....I think you need to get them down at least 2k in price for it to be a possibility to buy....at least if you buy it at 6k.....you have some room to spend a few bucks without feeling bad. One the up side...you know the car and understand what it will take to get it halfway driveable and aren't scared! I am assuming you will keep the Infinity as a dd while you work on the vette?
Best wishes on your decision and I hope it all works out for you!

chillin014

We think alike. And I have had a similar relationship with nearly all of my past cars. I guess in my mind the corvette has shared a mystery factor similar to porsche and ferrari so I wanted to make sure there wouldn't be any unique potential for surprise. For example my dad bought a Jaguar XK8 recently and the most basic repairs have been unavoidably expensive. The harmonic balancer is $800 dollars used... I was in denial about it for awhile because I've always been resourceful enough to maintain and modify my cars as cheaply as possible. It's a defeating feeling when you have limited options and I don't see that happening with the vette, which is part of the beauty about it. As you said the community here seems awesome and that is a huge benefit for someone like me.

thanks for the kind words! I intend to offer him a little less but because he is a family friend I have to be a little more careful about it. I'm not scared, this is true, but sometimes that breeds unrealistic expectations and that's why I invited this forum to weigh in. As of now I don't see any glaring reason to avoid the car

I don't plan to make a profit necessarily, I've learned that lesson once before. However- I think the margin between a "virgin" ~100k C5 (hows that for an oxymoron?) and my prospective car is a lot larger than some of the responders in this thread have alluded to. I am searching in and around Houston and the cheapest C5's I see average $13-14k have no less than 100k, are usually automatic, and I am sure are just as susceptible to similar maintenance issues. That's at least 5 grand more! Anyway- yes a few grand in repairs is my expectation as well. Spread out over a year or two if possible.

haha sorry!! This thread has more activity than I expected!

4XLR8N

OP - you sound like a smart guy with some real world experience under your belt...you are going into this with your eyes open. Have fun and enjoy the project!

Be sure to post up before and after pics as we CF members cannot seem to remember what our beloved C5's look like and always need to be reminded.

idahoskiguy

Chillin......if you have a place, tools, talent and willing to spend the time (careful this is a big one), you may well end up with a good car and learn a lot along the way. But time is money and our most important commodity.

Go meet with the owner and take $5,000 CASH with you.........this guy knows how much the repairs are going to cost and probably is tired of dealing with it, seller seeing $5,000 cash may get you the right price.

Only you can decide. Good luck!

Pounder

Good thing you didn't have to pay for this "Therapy Session" best of luck to you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh 2 Fun

But hey.....it's got your post count up to NINE!!!

dbgoodwin

5 grand would maybe buy the engine. Honestly I think the car is a decent deal as it sits for asking price.

chillin014

Very kind words! thank you. I am going to post some pictures momentarily.

Thank you! You hit the nail on the head about the time investment. It's been one of my bigger concerns. When I was younger I could spend days at a time working on my cars, not so much anymore.

Glad to hear this. The owner knows it too. He's not desperate to sell so I don't think I'm going to bother doing much negotiating. Plus he's a family friend and I don't want to create any bad vibes by low-balling.

chillin014

Posting some pictures just because I was able to get them yesterday. Maybe the nay sayers will see the car isn't some heaping pile needing restoration like I may have presented it to be :

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129143217@N06/23312348686/in/datetaken/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/668/23312348686_9a4a781914_b.jpg" width="1024" height="436" alt="Untitled"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129143217@N06/23042678840/in/datetaken/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5653/23042678840_8acd181947_b.jpg" width="800" height="527" alt="Untitled"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129143217@N06/22711331733/in/datetaken/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/578/22711331733_e3784fac98_b.jpg" width="1024" height="576" alt="Untitled"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129143217@N06/23312346586/in/datetaken/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/602/23312346586_b21c832eeb_b.jpg" width="1024" height="576" alt="Untitled"></a>

Oh 2 Fun

Jeez!! Nice looking car....and in my favorite color!!

R1 Rider

Are you sure it's an LS3?

chillin014

thanks. It's a good color!

nope! might be an ls2...at this point it could be an ls1 and I don't think I'd be horribly disappointed.

Shakeydeal

Nice looking car. Did you buy it?

Shakey

R1 Rider

Got ya, I was just asking because it has LS6 fuel rail covers but they may have just liked the look of the red covers over black ones. Did you buy it yet?

radar502

The reason most people here say NO is they have be there done that and cost big money to fix them up heck the ones that are all stock can be a pain in the arss to get right ,The c-5s are not easy to get right if something is bad wrong with them well if you got big money can get anything fixed I guess .. You don't want to have a C-5 that might need big work down the road .. NO way ..

GrandPrix46

That intake manifold alone is worth close to a grand.

Koufax

Excellent summary. I gave up on cheap and am glad I did. The other two have been true. Two years and 19,000 miles of fun, and other than oil changes it has involved only one repair and just now the replacement of a 7-year old battery.

As for the original poster, I agree that the highway mpg is a selling point. However, he lost me on his infinity being too small. The C5 is not exactly a place where you can stretch out. It's a reasonably tight two-seater. Not that I mind, and the large trunk is a plus, but it's not an SUV or anything.

C5 is a great car. I don't have the chops to deal with a tranny replacement, so that would scare me away from the car.

DDaaryl

Buy an unmolested Corvette, you won't regret it!

chillin014

haha good catch- nobody is quite sure where the covers came from-, they actually read "5.7" . I'm going to buy the car this saturday! woot!

I appreciate the input but I just can't walk away from this one without GOOD reason. For example: some Audi's are known to have a timing belt that breaks like clockwork at 100k miles and this repair can only be done by removing the entire engine. That is a car I would easily avoid like the plague. As of now I don't see anything about the C5 that isn't relatively easy and reasonably priced to repair (in my opinion).


I didn't mean to say that the C5 is roomy. What I am saying is that I'm 6'1 and I've got the seat all the way back in my G20 and my knees are hitting the dashboard. From what I can tell the C5 is at least slightly more forgiving for tall people in this regard.

Also- i knew it was only a matter of time before someone was going to pop in with the ole "pick 2" phrase. I believe everything in moderation is achievable.

Maybe I'm destined to be a scrapper . I find a bit of comfort in having something that isn't some coveted crown jewel. I like to leave my cars in a parking lot without worrying about them!